A three-year-old girl is safe after spending the night in a rural Missouri cornfield, her faithful dog by her side.

The ordeal began around 8.30pm yesterday with a 911 call that the girl had wandered away from her home near the town of Qulin, 280 kilometres south of St. Louis.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeant Clark Parrott says a search began that included an airplane, but the girl was not found overnight.

A three-year-old girl is safe after spending the night in a rural Missouri cornfield, her faithful dog by her side. Picture: Twitter/@MSHPTrooperE (Twitter/@MSHPTrooperE)Searchers found the girl with her Yorkshire Terrier, whose yapping helped alert rescuers to her whereabouts. Picture: Twitter/@MSHPTrooperE (Twitter/@MSHPTrooperE)

An estimated 50 volunteers joined police to search a cornfield this morning. Just after 8am, search dogs began barking – and a tiny dog voice started yapping in response.

Searchers found the girl with her Yorkshire Terrier. The child had several mosquito bites but was otherwise unharmed.